Numbers Files Disappeared from iCloud Drive?

I recently found ALL of my Numbers files (5-6 files) mysteriously disappeared from my iPhone, iPad and iCloud Drive.


I don't know the exact date when these files are missing. The last time I had access to the spreadsheets was September 2023 and they were all OK. I wasn't aware their absence until recently when I wanted to update one of the spreadsheets.


Here are some more details, not sure whether relevant or not.


  • iPhone 13 Pro, was on IOS 16.x, recently upgraded to IOS 17. As I didn't check these files before upgrade, not sure if upgrade process has anything to do with it.
  • iPad Pro (9.7") IOS 16.7
  • On both iPhone and Pad, Numbers APP is configured to use iCloud Drive as Document Storage, so all the files were saved to iCloud Drive root -> Numbers folder by default.
  • iCloud + subscription 2TB, currently only 300GB is used, so definitely not a storage space issue.
  • I checked the 'Recently Deleted' folder on both iPhone and iPad, but wasn;t able to find them.
  • Tried to check the 'Recently Deleted' folder in iCloud Drive from iCloud.com (I don't have a Mac), but can never finish searching, as (1) the web app doesn't offer a search function, so I can only do the search manually, but (2) every time when I tried to scroll down, it would pop up an error message saying "Drive has stopped responding..." and offers option to send the error info to Apple, which I did', and then simply quit back to iCloud home page.

  • I have an iCloud Drive sync folder setup on my Windows 11 laptop, and I'm in a process to add some folders/files to the iCloud Drive sync folder, but this process only involves adding folder and files to the iCloud Drive sync folder, not deleting.
  • Even if I did accidently delete something from iCloud Drive sync folder on Windows PC, they should be able to recover from the Recycle Bin, but they are nowhere to be found.


Any suggestions?



iPhone 13 Pro

Posted on Oct 22, 2023 02:47 PM

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Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Posted on Jun 25, 2024 08:49 AM

Apple simply deleted documents in pages and numbers folders and they are no where to be seen. Neither of devices or iCloud itself has them. I only have a message that "your provider might have deleted your data". That is a big mess since documents that disappeared were important. This is the reason why I do not trust and will not pay for iCloud and keep my data somewhere else. I did not fix the issue and leave my comment so that other people could see they are not alone in loosing their files from iCloud.

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2 replies
Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Jun 25, 2024 08:49 AM in response to K_Faith

Apple simply deleted documents in pages and numbers folders and they are no where to be seen. Neither of devices or iCloud itself has them. I only have a message that "your provider might have deleted your data". That is a big mess since documents that disappeared were important. This is the reason why I do not trust and will not pay for iCloud and keep my data somewhere else. I did not fix the issue and leave my comment so that other people could see they are not alone in loosing their files from iCloud.

Oct 23, 2023 02:27 PM in response to shide_pearlandtx

Hello shide_pearlandtx,


Thank you for reaching out to Apple Support Communities, and we'll be happy to help in any way we can. We understand you're having issues with missing Numbers files. Try the steps here to see if you can recover them: If you can’t find a spreadsheet in Numbers for iCloud - Apple Support


"If you can’t find a spreadsheet in Numbers for iCloud

Spreadsheets you create using Numbers for iCloud appear in the Numbers folder in the spreadsheet manager (and in Recents, if the spreadsheet was opened recently). 

If you set up iCloud on your Mac computers, iOS devices, and iPadOS devices, and save your spreadsheets to iCloud Drive, your spreadsheets should also appear in the Numbers folder in the iCloud spreadsheet manager. If you don’t see a spreadsheet, click Browse on the left side of the spreadsheet manager to see if the spreadsheet was saved to a different folder.

If you still can’t find a spreadsheet you saved to iCloud Drive, try the following steps to make sure your computers and devices are set up to sync properly. 


If you can’t find the answer to your question here (or in the topics to the left), visit the Numbers for iCloud Support website."


We hope this helps.


Cheers!


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Numbers Files Disappeared from iCloud Drive?

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